


Faith in a Rose

by kakunamatatq



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Episode: s03e07 The Legend Begins, Extended Episode, F/M, Kallura Positivity Day 2018, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Missing Scene, POV Keith (Voltron), Post-Episode: s03e07 The Legend Begins, Pre-Relationship, or rather it was supposed to be for that but it's a month late, they talk about their feelings and stuff, this ship is so soft and I love it, this was supposed to be more canon compliant but I got indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-26 14:44:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15003092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kakunamatatq/pseuds/kakunamatatq
Summary: Red.He hadn’t heard her in months.He felt her in the bond, of course, a reassuring presence among the paladins and the other lions when they formed Voltron.But he hadn’theardher—at least not anything that was directed at him. Not since he took over piloting Black. Not even after they’d found Shiro.And now she was calling to him.





	Faith in a Rose

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aaawunder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aaawunder/gifts).



> The majority of this was written pre-s6, but conveniently enough, I didn't have to change much after it dropped.
> 
> Written as a gift for [aaaawunder](http://aaawunder.tumblr.com), whose Kallura kids and Carnivore!Keith headcanons have been giving me life for the past four months (follow them for quality VLD musings and shitposts)
> 
> And finally, a thank you to them and [grandraconteur](https://grandraconteur.tumblr.com) for looking over the piece. <3

After two hours of fruitless attempts to fall asleep, Keith decided to call it. Really, he should have called it earlier. An old, random factoid had flittered through his mind on and off for the past hour; something about how if you haven’t fallen asleep after fifteen minutes, you probably weren’t going to anytime soon .

He rose up from his bed, put on his socks, shoes, and gloves, and walked across the room to grab his jacket from where it hung. If he wasn’t going to rest, he might as well do something productive with his time. Anything would be better than him going through all the information Coran had dumped on them earlier that day again. It was a lot to take in. 

They had already known Zarkon was the original Black Paladin, though the details about how he had gone from a being a savior of the universe to its oppressor had been a mystery. And he had already known Alfor was a paladin as well.

He had known that, and yet it hadn’t really hit him what that meant until now.

Alfor had been the original Red Paladin.

Allura’s father was the original Red Paladin.

He was the one who Red had originally bonded with—their quintessence a perfect match.

How had that never come up until today?

If there were any signs, any mentions about that connection to Red, Keith couldn’t remember them. Allura hadn’t even hinted at it when they were alone in the pod together. 

But then again, he hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with information at the time either.

He’d tried to get a feel for the situation, hoping that maybe he could segue into his knife and his suspicions about his heritage, because not talking about it was giving him nightmares with sensations so real he was left panicked and gasping for breath.

But when the moment came another familiar fear had overtaken him, snaking through his veins, constricting his lungs, and he chose silence in the face of a piercing stare that seemed to see right through him.

There was never any blame though. A desperate need to prove himself, yes, but never any blame directed at Allura. 

Exiting his quarters, Keith started for the training deck, taking care so as not to disturb his sleeping teammates most likely in their rooms at this hour. Hunk and Lance at the very least would be, though he doubted anything short of the alarms could wake up the latter after he’d gone through his entire nighttime routine and put Pidge’s headphones on. 

Speaking of Pidge, he had no idea if she was in her room asleep or if she was off tinkering in Green’s hanger. She kept such odd hours, it was anyone’s guess.

He paused at her door, debating whether he should knock or just move on with his original plan. Maybe she could help get his mind off another cyclical train of thought he had found himself in since their confrontation with Lotor’s forces. It’d be nice to get her perspective on it since he was sure it was eating at her too, though more out of her inquisitive nature than a slowly mounting worry.

More out of a question born of pure curiosity than one born of fear.

He rapped his hand against the door and waited for a response. When he didn’t receive one after a few moments, he tried once more, but was met with the same outcome. 

Either asleep or in Green’s hanger then. 

He moved on, not bothering to stop and do the same at Shiro’s door. He wouldn’t find the answers to any of his questions there. Not after Shiro had told him just how proud he was of him being chosen by Black with the utmost sincerity in his eyes and his voice.

It had reminded him of when he first enrolled in the Garrison and when he made fighter class, but it was just so…wrong. He couldn’t even explain how it was wrong, but he could feel it at this visceral level in his gut.

Bonding with a lion and having them in your mind was such an intimate experience. The limits of verbal language were transcended, skipping pedantry and going straight to the heart of the matter, where the only barriers were the ones that were self-imposed—not necessarily out of fear, but out of respect. 

To have that ripped away…how could Shiro be okay with that?

As Keith walked down the dimmed hallways of the Castle, he was glad he ended up bringing his jacket. It would end up on the floor upon starting a simulation, but the walk from his room to the training deck was not short by any means, and these halls could get surprisingly chilly. He wondered how Pidge could stand wearing shorts in this place. It was nice bit of respite from the other thoughts that threatened to drown him in their murky depths of uncertainty. 

Just when he started to sink into those depths again, a rumbling purr deep within the recesses of his mind pulled him back.

 _ **Red**_.

He hadn’t heard her in months.

He felt her in the bond, of course, a reassuring presence among the paladins and the other lions when they formed Voltron.

But he hadn’t _heard_ her—at least not anything that was directed at him. Not since he took over piloting Black. Not even after they’d found Shiro.

And now she was calling to him.

_ Come. _

It wasn’t exactly a command. More of an invitation; an offering of solace. Peace from the thoughts plaguing his conscience.

The last time she had offered him such comfort, back when he had emerged from the Marmora base worse for wear in both body and mind. She had fought to free him from the perceived threat, and when he was finally back with her she had enveloped him in a warmth that was so fiercely protective he feared her mere energy might burn all else around her. 

Keith longed to be engulfed in that warmth again, and to feel even the tiniest flickers of it being offered within his mind sent him changing course, away from empty training deck.

* * *

It was surreal to be in her hanger again after all this time.

Surreal, but no less welcomed. 

Keith found Red laying upon her stomach, her front paws flat beside her head, like she had just as eagerly been waiting his return as he had. As he approached her, she readily opened her mouth, a purr resonating from it that he could swear not only reached his ears but the very core of his soul.

They were connected—connected in ways he didn’t entirely understand, ways that science couldn’t explain, but he could feel it with every fiber of his being.

So then why…why was he still piloting Black?

He didn’t spend very long ruminating on the question as he made his way to Red’s cockpit. When he finally reached it, he was met with a certain white-haired princess curled up in the pilot’s chair.

“Allura?”

She turned her head to look at him, and he wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but he thought he could see a hint of red about her eyes. “Oh, hello Keith,” she said. If she was surprised by his presence, she didn’t show it very much.

But then again Red probably gave him away with the purring.

Allura stood up and faced him, one hand going to smooth out any potential ruffles on her nightgown before finding its place with the other clasped behind her back. “I did not expect anyone else here at this varga.” 

“Yeah, I...” Keith began, searching for words in his momentary confusion, trying to find them within the various nooks and crannies of the cockpit. This seemed like a private moment he was intruding on. Why would Red call him when Allura was in here?

The lion offered no answer, choosing to remain (conveniently) silent as she watched the whole thing play out.

He decided honesty was the best policy, clichéd as his reason and the saying were. “I couldn’t sleep. All the stuff that Coran told us about today was…a lot to process.” 

“Ah. Yes.” Her eyes fell to the floor and her expression became downcast. “It…it was a lot for me too. Even if most of it was a review.” 

Right, she’d lived through most of it. Even if she hadn’t understood the finer details when she was younger, she was more intimately familiar with the situation than any of the other paladins. But other than elaborating on some details of Honerva’s research, she had remained largely silent while Coran did most of the talking.

Going over the highlight reel of your father’s life knowing it would end in tragedy probably didn’t make a person chatty. Keith could relate.

That didn’t make the stretch of silence that had cropped up any less awkward though.

“So, uh, I guess,” he started again, trying to find the best way to make his exit. “I’ll just, take off then.”

That blunder was enough to pull her out of her thoughts. Head slightly tilted and eyebrow cutely quirked, she half-asked, half-stated, “you were planning on flying Red?”

“Oh, no, no,” Keith fumbled, trying to clear up the confusion while simultaneously wondering where that ‘cute’ had come from, “not ‘take off’ like leave the Castle. ‘Take off’ like leave so you could finish what you were doing.”

She blinked at him in confusion. “Oh, no, that’s quite all right,” she said, gathering herself. “I’ve finished.”

It didn’t look like it when Keith had walked in there. “Allura, really, take all the time you need. Today couldn’t have been easy for you.” 

For the paladins from Earth, the whole thing seemed like an ancient mythos they found in an old tome in some dusty, long-forgotten library. For the Alteans, it was practically yesterday. Painful, as Shiro had put it, was an understatement.

“It was…difficult toward the end of Coran’s retelling,” she admitted as she glanced to the side. “But not all the memories were unpleasant. There were also many happy ones. Like the first time Father took me flying in Red.”

She turned around back to Red’s dashboard, gently placing a hand upon it, her fingers performing tiny yet loving ministrations. “He had started off slow, but I had seen him fly before at much faster speeds. So I begged him to go faster and faster, and he eventually caved.” The tinge of sadness in her voice had faded to the background, replaced with a rising but controlled exuberance. “It felt as though we zoomed all over Altea in the blink of an eye. Over the juniberry fields, up the mountains, through the cities, the thrill of it all zipping past, it was,” she paused both her speech and her movements on the dashboard before picking up the former again, “It was an indescribable experience.”

“Yeah, I think I know what you mean.” Closing the small distance between them, Keith stood toward her right and placed his own hand on the dashboard. “Flying Red is…nothing like anything I’ve ever experienced before. The aircraft on Earth never even came close to her.”

But it wasn’t just her speed and agility. It was the connection, the bond that made it feel like they were one when they were soaring in the skies, zipping through asteroid fields, barreling through fleets of Galra fighters. The adrenaline coupled with a seeming limitlessness, being so utterly and entirely freeing, it really was indescribable just how whole it made him feel.

A heavy purr rumbled throughout the cockpit. It was nice to hear that the sentiment was mutual.

God how he missed her.

“Keith, are you all right?” asked Allura. His expression must have taken a downward turn if it had prompted that question and left a hint of worry on her face. How long had he let that silence go on while he was reliving happier moments?

He tried to recover without being too clumsy about it. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine.” Smooth, very smooth. “Just…sorry to bother you and Red. I hadn’t planned to visit her, but she told me to come, so I did. I wasn’t expecting anyone else to be here.”

Allura gave a low quizzical hum at that. Evidently Red hadn’t informed her about the invitation. “Well, at any rate, you’re not a bother, so there’s no need to apologize for that.”

“Oh, um, thanks. That’s, eh, good to know.”

“Are you sure you’re all right?” she asked again, worry returning to her face.

Great, now he was making her worry more when she was the one who just relived the memory of her people being murdered and her planet being destroyed.

“I just didn’t think you’d want to see me after all…” he drifted off as he searched his brain for the best word to encompass the experience of the day, “that.”

‘That’ was not the best word by any means, but it was the best he could come up with.

“After what? Keith, please, I’m confused.” A hint of frustration mixed in with the worry. Not that he could blame her; he was frustrated with his inability to articulate his thoughts too. “Why wouldn’t I want to see you? After all what?”

“After going over the history of the original paladins, and Zarkon’s betrayal of your father, I just, I get it now. Why you were upset back then, before we fought him in Voltron.”

“That’s…Keith, has this been what’s been keeping you up tonight?” her voice a touch quieter.

“It’s…part of it,” he admitted. “I just, I get it now. Back then Hunk talked to me about why you hated me—”

“I didn’t—” she interjected, with a bit more force than she must have meant to because she stopped and started again. “I didn’t hate you.” There was still a firmness to the statement that brooked no room for argument, but it wasn’t lacking in compassion.

“No, but I thought you did.” Turning his head to look at her, her face reflected what he had heard in her voice: a firm, serious expression to show that she wasn’t treating what he was saying flippantly, paired with resplendent blue eyes that seemed to hold compassion in their depths for all those who had been wronged in the universe, even if she believed she was the one who wronged them. It was one of the things Keith appreciated about her—that honest, intense passion to fix all the problems in the universe, be they large or small. 

He continued, returning his gaze to the dashboard so he wouldn’t get lost in those eyes. “Hunk talked with me about it; gave me some perspective on it. Reminded me that the whole thing was bigger than just me. Altea had been destroyed by the Galra after decafeebs of building a friendship. You lost…everything.”

No matter how many times he’d gone over this fact since he and the other Earthlings had met them, he still struggled with the sheer magnitude of this loss. He didn’t know if the mind was capable of comprehending it. All of that life, just…taken out of existence. 

“But it wasn’t just that. Zarkon betrayed your father and all the other paladins. He wasn’t honest about his intentions. Like how I wasn’t honest about mine.”

“You didn’t betray Voltron.”

“But I wasn’t entirely honest either. You didn’t hide what was worrying you in the pod from me, but I…”

The words hung in the air, hesitation getting the better of him as he attempted to divulge his own. 

“You were afraid,” she finished gently.

Even now those eyes could see through him.

Or rather _see_ him; understand him. 

After so many years of being unseen, left to drift listlessly through life alone, he wasn’t sure whether the idea scared him or gave his heart a beat of hope.

“Yeah,” he said softly. He could admit to that aloud with her. “Yeah. I was afraid. Of being rejected by you, Shiro, the rest of the team, Red.”

_ Never. _

‘ _I know_ ,’ he thought back, hoping that it wasn’t as choked up as it would be if he’d voiced it verbally. The conviction in the lion’s sentiments was palpable. It seemed silly now how he could ever doubt any of them when she had chosen him knowing who he was— _what_ he was—but at the time, he had been truly terrified.

“And then those fears became a reality when I reacted the way I did.”

“I didn’t blame you though. Especially not after Hunk talked with me. It’s just that now, there’s a whole other layer to it that I didn’t know before.” He turned to face her again, though this time she wasn’t looking at him. “Why didn’t you tell me your father was the original Red Paladin before today?” he asked, voice soft again.

It took a moment for her to respond. “I suppose it was for the same reasons I didn’t tell any of you that Zarkon was the original Black Paladin. No,” she corrected herself, “not the same, but similar. I didn’t want the history of the paladins to influence your relationships with your lions, be it the darker moments or the lighter ones. I thought it would be better for them to evolve naturally without such large expectations placed upon them.” 

“But it couldn’t have been easy watching me pilot your dad’s lion after we allied with the Blade,” he said.

“It wasn’t. At the time, I thought the universe was playing a cruel joke on me. I couldn’t understand,” she said, before pausing and correcting herself again, “I didn’t _want_ to understand why Red would choose you after what had happened; why she would fly across a galaxy to save you. But no matter what I tried, I would keep coming back to the day we met, when I first felt your quintessence and how much it mirrored Red’s, and all the times you had embodied the Paladin Code, putting others’ lives before your own…the truth wouldn’t let me see it as anything other than what it was.”

A wash of emotions poured over Keith the longer she went on. Relief at the reaffirmation that Allura had never truly hated him, gratitude that his actions were appreciated and valued, contentment that his bond with Red wasn’t something that he just kept imagining but was so very real. 

But there was lingering guilt as well. “I took my knife to the Blade headquarters even after they said to come unarmed.”

“That’s…true.” He couldn’t tell whether that was supposed to be a question or an affirmation. It seemed like a mix of both with her inflection. 

When she didn’t say anything further he realized she was waiting for him to clarify. 

Only for him to go and make it more awkward. “I mean, it all ended up working out, but it might not have.”

“True.” Again she waited, silently coaxing him to continue.

“I guess I just—Allura, you said it wasn’t me, that it was you back then, but that,” he turned his entire body toward her, giving her his full attention, “that wasn’t fair to you. I gave you reasons to doubt me, to be mad with me. And then with Zarkon, the genocide of Altea…what I’m trying to say is that you have valid reasons to be angry, and that…that’s okay.” 

‘Okay.’ It was a horrible, paltry conclusion, and he internally berated himself for it, but he hoped it got his message across. That he understood, _really_ understood now, and accepted her and her feelings, even if they stung, because she had a right to them.

Evidently, he had, because after she had taken a moment to absorb what he said her posture relaxed, if ever so slightly, and a small smile appeared on her lips, the corners of her eyes crinkling. The sight made his heart thump loudly in his chest, and déjà vu overtook him as she embraced him. 

“Thank you, Keith,” she whispered, her breath lightly tickling his ear. “I truly appreciate it.”

He could feel it in her every word, and he could feel it in her touch. So strong, and yet so gentle, putting up no resistance when he moved to reciprocate the gesture, welcoming it even as he crossed his arms on her back. 

He wasn’t quite sure how long he had stayed frozen in that moment trying to carve it into his memory: the warmth radiating from her being, the way her head felt so right (‘right?’) nestled upon his shoulder, how soft her hair felt against his skin, but eventually she moved to pull away from him, and he loosened his grip in acquiescence.

With some distance between them again, but not as much as before, she returned to their earlier conversation. “What you said earlier, about this being part of your troubles, would you be comfortable telling me the others?”

He didn’t know if he could really feel comfortable about the subject, but she was the best person to talk to about it. “It’s only one other thing, but…”

How did he begin to word this?

“When we first met, you said the bond between a lion and a pilot couldn’t be forced. And you said that my quintessence mirrors Red’s; that everyone’s quintessence mirrors their respective lions. So then why…” Fear threatened to bubble up in his stomach again, and he could feel it tinging his words as he forced them past his lips. “Why hasn’t Black taken Shiro back?”

Allura’s eyes widened, her warm expression slowly replaced with a more doleful one. Keith hate that he put it there, but he needed to know.

“I’m sorry, Keith.” And then he could feel his heart plummet to his gut before she even finished. “I honestly don’t know why Black hasn’t responded to Shiro.”

“Black hasn’t…hasn’t told you anything?” It was a dumb, pointless question, but he clung to it for a few seconds more.

“No,” she reaffirmed sadly, wrapping her arms lightly around herself, her hands cupping her elbows as she looked at the floor. “Not Black, nor Blue, nor Red.” 

Silence had crept back between them. Keith had to consciously control his breaths from coming out ragged as he slowly exhaled and inhaled. He ran a gloved hand over his face, then through his hair as he took to slowly pacing around a corner of the cockpit, eventually resting both his hands at the nape of his neck as he continued to walk and sort out what this all meant.

Takashi ‘Shiro’ Shirogane had come into his life at its lowest point. After his mother had left him, after his father had died, Keith had no one. It was difficult for him to get close to people, and he admitted he made it difficult for people to get close to him. Better to cut them off before he got attached—before they nestled themselves so deeply in his heart that when they inevitably left the ache became all-consuming and suffocating. 

And yet Shiro had pursued a friendship with him anyway. He had taken Keith under his wing, gone the extra mile for him when no one else would. He was the man who had restored Keith’s faith in the human potential for goodness. 

_“I will never give up on you.”_

He wouldn’t claim Shiro was perfect, but in Keith’s eyes, he was the closest damn thing to it. 

He’d been captured by the Galra twice, tortured, _mutilated_ , forced to play their sick, vile games for amusement, and yet through everything, he still did the best he possibly could every single day they were out here. 

Shiro might not have liked the circumstances he found himself piloting Black in—none of them did. But it was the reality they found themselves in, and Keith knew that despite those circumstances, Shiro loved being a paladin. He loved Black, and Black loved him. Keith felt it the first time he piloted her back on that deserted planet after the wormhole incident. He had been able to pilot her through their shared love for Shiro and desire to protect him. When Shiro was adrift in that dying ship, she’d been the one to sense him. She brought him back to them.

So then why wasn’t she responding to him now, after everything they’d been through together?

A hand on his shoulder jolted him from his thoughts and stopped his pacing. At his reaction, Allura pulled it back, leaving it hovering between them. She seemed hesitant to do more. 

He hadn’t even realized he’d started crying until her attempt to comfort him.

“Keith, I’m sorry,” she said softly, features pained as she replaced her hand on his shoulder now that he was more aware. “I wish I knew why all of this was happening.”

“’s not your fault,” he mumbled through his hand as it scrubbed over his face again to gather himself and get rid of his tears. He didn’t like to cry in front of anyone if he could help it. Years in the system had left him self-conscious about the act. “Can’t do anything if they won’t tell you what’s going on.”

Another moment of silence arose before Allura picked up again. “I’m not sure if it’s ‘won’t’ or ‘can’t.’” 

His gaze shifted back to her. “What do you mean?”

“It’s…complicated.” Her brow furrowed as she tried to explain. “But I can’t discern whether they’re purposely not saying anything, or if they too are in the dark on this matter.”

Keith wasn’t sure which was worse. “So there’s…nothing we can do.” Was he asking her or trying to get himself to accept it? He couldn’t tell anymore.

“Not tonight, no.”

Not tonight.

It didn’t mean forever. It didn’t even mean for long.

Hell, they could find something tomorrow, some sort of clue to lead them in the right direction to fixing everything.

Keith knew this, kept trying to tell himself this, but the weight of those words dragged him down to the floor, leaving him despondent.

Not that he was alone. Lowering herself down more steadily, Allura sat beside him, pulling her legs close to her chest. “I’m…I’m truly sorry, Keith.” 

“Don’t.”

It came out more curtly than he intended, but Keith couldn’t let her go on. Not when none of this was her fault. Not when her voice took on a brittleness that was so ill-fitting for a woman with as much strength and conviction as her.

“Just, please Allura, don’t. You’ve apologized enough tonight, and it isn’t—”

“But it is,” she said as she let out a bitter, teary laugh. “It is my fault.”

That pulled Keith’s head from the cradle of his hands. Just what was she getting at?

“Black…Black didn’t accept me. Part of me expected it, after you had been able to pilot her before, and I confess that part of me was…happy that she didn’t.” She curled in on herself, avoiding his gaze. “Even knowing how close you and Red had grown, if I was to pilot a lion, I wanted it to be her. But then she…she rejected me too. If I had been worthy of Black, I could have spared both you and Lance the heartache of being separated from your lions. And if I had been worthy of Red, I could have held onto that piece of my father and carried on his legacy.”

Wanting to hold onto a piece of a legacy…another thing they had in common, although it wasn’t entirely the same.

“But the bond can’t be forced.”

At that her head jerked up, look bordering on incredulous as tears pricked at her eyes. “I _know_ it cannot be forced.”

“No, that’s—” God, why was he so bad at this. “I know you know that. What I was trying to say is, you can’t force a connection, and you connected with Blue. And even before that, piloting the Castle and leading the coalition meetings—it’s just, I- we did notice it.” He’d started fiddling with his gloves at some point. Eloquence was her gift, not his. “It isn’t the same as piloting his lion, but it’s still upholding his legacy is what I—what I meant to say. You do everything you can to make that work.”

The abrupt end of the mini-speech awkwardly hung in the air, giving way to another round of silence. Keith stared at his lap and continued to fidget with his gloves—anything to keep him occupied and avoid looking at her and the mess he’d just made between them. Here they both were, trying to keep themselves together in the face of all these unknown variables, and this was the only solace he could offer her. No solutions to their predicament, no action, just words.

He really was no good at this.

When the fabric of her shawl brushed against his jacket, he internally started, but managed to keep his external composure as she leaned against his shoulder. Her warmth seeped through the clothing, slowly soothing his nerves, and somehow the silence wasn’t so deafening anymore. 

He could get used to this.

He wanted to get used to this.

* * *

Eventually Allura broke the cordial quiet they’d crafted. “Did you still want to talk to Red?”

Not that Keith minded; her voice was an equally melodious sound to his ears, waking him from the slight doze he’d fallen into.

“Yeah.” He wanted to. He needed to.

She nodded on his shoulder, hints of a small smile felt on his muscles, before moving to stand. “Then I believe I’ll retire to my room; it is fairly late.” Undoubtedly, though how late was anyone’s guess.

In one graceful motion she lifted herself up, smoothing out her gown again. Unnecessary, in his opinion, though he marveled how her fingers splayed against the fabric. So dainty; it seemed almost paradoxical how they could wield such tremendous strength beneath their silky exterior.

“Keith.”

Stupor ceased, he turned his gaze towards her own. There was still a sadness present there, but it seemed to be mitigated. Perhaps naively, he hoped he played a role in that.

“Again, I apologize for not having any leads on our situation.”

It wasn’t like he had any either, but he held his tongue.

“But please, trust me when I say I’ll keep trying to do everything I can to solve this.”

He did.

She gave him no reason not to.

Not with her awakening out of a ten thousand-year slumber and effectively launching to the forefront of a war to free the universe from the hands of a genocidal tyrant overnight. The sincerity in her voice rang true, and it placed a smile on his lips. A small smile, but a genuine one. “I know you will.”

Mirroring his visage, she nodded back before walking toward the cockpit’s door, wishing him a peaceful rest of the night. 

He was so drawn in by her that he almost failed to reciprocate. “Allura,” he started to get her attention. When she stopped to look back at him and he took in the sight of her, there was a flutter in his chest, and he almost forgot what he meant to say. Which was pretty bad, considering how simple it was. “I…thank you. Goodnight.”

She smiled and nodded at him again before she exited, the door closing behind her.

Keith stared at it for a moment longer before moving to take a seat in the pilot’s chair, reflecting on everything that had transpired in the short amount of time they’d shared together. With a deep inhale, he calmed himself before attempting to reach out to Red with his mind.

A loving purr greeted him as the warmth that had led him there in the first place surrounded his being, acting as a tight embrace.

_‘It’s good to talk to you again too.’_

He basked in it, tried to convey how much he missed her and welcomed her presence in his mind again.

But not even her dearly missed affection could quell the question plaguing his mind. Despite knowing what to expect thanks to Allura, he had to ask for himself. 

_‘Red, why hasn’t Black responded to Shiro?’_

Silence, followed by only nebulous nothingness. No explanation, none of the visions Red preferred to communicate more complex ideas with.

Just nothingness, followed by a sense of…sadness? Guilt?

_ Forgive me. _

_‘There’s nothing to forgive.’_

Whether it was ‘can’t’ or ‘won’t’, Keith couldn’t blame Red. If she wouldn’t tell him, then she had to have a good reason. And if she didn’t know, or if any of the other lions didn’t know either, then it wasn’t their fault.

But that didn’t make it any less frustrating and agonizing.

She comforted him with another rumble. It helped a bit. 

Keith decided to switch to a different topic before he worked himself up again.

 _‘So, King Alfor was your original paladin?’_

He should have mentally braced himself for the stream of images that flooded his mind. _The moment she and Alfor first bonded—forming Voltron—fighting the rift creatures—Altea?—volcanos erupting, the rain dazzling—asteroid fields—a white hole—a young child’s laughter…_

_…Allura?_

The flood stopped.

Red gave a sheepish mewl in apology. It was ill-befitting of a being normally so confident in her actions to hesitate about anything that held such meaning to her, and it made Keith’s heart twinge that she felt she had to keep that to herself

_‘It’s okay. I know you loved him too.’_

He wouldn’t ask her to relive the memory of when the king sent her away. 

The next flood featured him.

_Their first meeting, originally viewed in annoyance but now with mirth and affection (“I am your paladin!” roused a deep chuckle)—training exercises, a bombardment of bombs courtesy of an eager princess—forming Voltron’s sword—their duel with Zarkon—traveling through the space time pocket—the Blade headquarters, his fear melted away by her love—her rescuing him from a ro-beast attack, from Zarkon’s ship, and from the ruins of a pod he hopped into haphazardly, though not on his own as he initially intended._

The last image of her coming across him and the princess stranded in space, their hands clasped together, lingered before dispersing into the interior of the cockpit.

The emphasis was not missed by Keith.

He knew what the lion was getting at. Or at least, he thought he knew.

What he didn’t know was whether he should dare to hope.

_ Important. _

That was what she ended up impressing upon him. No strong leanings in any direction of what sort of importance, but that didn’t lessen the value.

It was a sentiment Keith could whole-heartedly agree with. Whatever may come of these feelings, there was no denying that Allura was important to him. They all were.

Allura said they were a family, after all.

And family was something he’d sought for so long, chasing even mere illusions of it, that when the universe placed this real one within his grasp—after he’d already been lucky enough to have Shiro come into his world—he seized it with both hands and refused to let go. 

Red hummed in approval, her pride surging under his skin. 

She knew their separation had hurt him. It hurt her too, ached in ways he could only begin to imagine after she had already been forced to part from Alfor under such wrenching circumstances. Yet she still offered whatever support she could—to him, to Allura, to Lance, and to the rest of the lions as well.

They might only be able to play with the hand fate had dealt them with this swap, but they’d play it with all they had.

It would be a struggle. It had _been_ a struggle. 

But they struggled together. 

It wasn’t the solace he’d come to find that night, but he’d take it all the same.

**Author's Note:**

> tfw your lion is playing lowkey matchmaker ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)  
> (really she just wants them both to heal and find comfort in each other and become better friends, but if anything else comes from that she’s not going to complain about it)
> 
> This piece was inspired by a number of things:
> 
>   * Shared gripes with the handling of the conflict between Allura and Keith in s2 and its resolution. [[Specifically, how Allura seemed to be placed in the wrong by the narrative and how it favored Keith. This wouldn't have been as bad if he'd been allowed to apologize, but the writers had Allura take the brunt of the fault when they both messed up. For a while, it really put me off to the pairing—not helped by my initial perception of "Hole in the Sky" of Keith being in the right again and Allura being "duped". Eventually I came around though (wouldn't have written a 5k+ fic for the ship if I didn't like it lol) thanks to cute fanworks and good meta, with a special mention going to [this post](https://isamukuro.tumblr.com/post/162435505327/about-the-hugging-scene-it-really-is-wild-to-me) by isamukuro. Great read.]] 
>   * Alfor being confirmed as the original Red Paladin and Allura and Keith never talking about it once. [[I was deadset on him being the Yellow Paladin even after s2 because I was clinging onto anything that could spark a conversation between Allura & Hunk, one of the most underexplored dynamics I'd kill to be explored before series' end. But any doubts about whether he piloted Blue, Red, or Yellow were cleared up...only to have Keith never mention it. I'm happy Allura at least talked to Lance about the swap, but, ya know, nothing for the second Red Paladin? Missed opportunities.]] 
>   * Lack of focus on the lions as sentient beings. [[For all the series stresses about this and how a connection between them and their pilot is needed, we don't get to see this very often, and if we do, it's mostly in a combat setting. I'd kill for more scenes of the team bonding with their lions that aren't the result of needing a power-up in battle to move the plot along.]] 
> 

> 
> hmu on [tumblr](http://kakunamatatq.tumblr.com/post/175118431162/faith-in-a-rose) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Kakuna_Matata/status/1010628824923623430) to talk about Kallura or Voltron in general; I love talking about these characters


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